My Blog Story Part 9

Last year I wrote My Blog Story in an effort to encourage other bloggers, document where I have been and chronicle my journey as a blogger. I thought I would update my story to include 2011. Obviously it might be helpful for you to read the first 8 installments on my blog story or else it will be like walking into the room in the middle of a movie. It will only make you want to go out and rent it to watch it all over again. Start here with My Blog Story Part 1.

Holy cow what a whirlwind 2011 has been as I have partnered with brands, built upon my community, taped a web show, launched two new blogs, officially started earning an income, sold one blog and said goodbye to another one. WOW did I do all of that in 2011!?!? I am tired just thinking about it. Let me begin…

I kicked off 2011 with a new blog. I have always loved knock-off projects and thought it would be cool if there was one knock- off inspiration place to go. Knock Off Decor officially launched January 1, 2011. I was really excited about this new adventure and especially being able to set it up the right way. Okay technically there is no “right” way, but I was able to apply all I had learned about blogging the last 3 1/2 years and start the blog the way I wanted. I couldn’t believe that in three months my new baby blog outgrew Infarrantly Creative in pageviews per month. I was kind of miffed at first, since IC is my baby, but then I quickly got over it and have enjoyed the success that KOD has had.

In January, I also went to CHA which is the trade show for the Craft & Hobby Association. Besides being in craft supply heaven that is where I first gained experience talking with brands face to face. It was VERY intimidating at first but I felt confident with Jen, Heather and Amy with me. There is power in numbers for sure. Through some relationships we built there, Crafterminds was able to offer craft bloggers some paid campaigns in 2011. If you are a creative blogger and haven’t checked out Crafterminds it is a great resource.

The first part of 2011 I also made the big and scary switch from Blogger to WordPress. Moving 3 1/2 years of content was stressful and freaky, as I have heard horror stories of people losing all of their followers, content, etc. So I didn’t skimp and paid the best to help me. Shannon of Eight Crazy did my rebranding and design and Shauna from See My Designs by Shauna did the transfer and coding. While it wasn’t without a hiccup I made it through unscathed.

If you are considering starting a blog and ever think that it might turn into something other than a hobby save yourself time and money and start your blog on WordPress. There are many successful money making blogs on Blogger but I feel like WordPress is more powerful offering better SEO (Search Engine Optimization) options and plugins to help you make your site perform better. However, if you are a self-hosted WordPress blog you will have to pay a monthly or yearly hosting fee in addition to a yearly domain name fee so that is an option to weigh.

Then March was an exciting month when two new opportunities came along that were unexpected. It had been a huge goal of mine to…

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